Fresh August Snowfall in the Alps

High slopes in the Alps have seen fresh snowfall this morning. Switzerland’s Glacier 3000 ski area, which reported 30cm of snowfall, posted the picture above, Avoriaz the picture below, on social media today.

It’s the latest of several summer snowfalls over the past few weeks above 2,500m as more unsettled weather hits the mountains after record high temperatures to the south. Last week a “freak summer snowstorm” was reported to have brought a foot of snow to a German town.

There are currently four glacier ski areas open in the Alps – Hintertux in Austria, Passo Stelvio in Italy and Saas Fee in Switzerland, with Zermatt’s glacier also accessible from Cervinia in Italy.  You can also ski at Galdhopiggen in Norway on Scandinavia’s highest slopes.

Snow in summer on high slopes is not unusual although last summer all but one of these were forced to close in August and September as hot weather melted all the snow cover, this year is looking more promising so far.

Next month half-a-dozen more glacier ski areas are expected to open for their 23-24 ski seasons and the first ski areas in Finland will open in two months’ time for their 7-month long ski season thanks to snow farming at Levi and Ruka.

However it seems that there’ll be nowhere to ski in France until late November as Tignes appears to have given up on its early autumn opening model and set a season start date at the start of November for 23-24 when resorts like Val Thorens are opening as well.